BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

This appears in the Thursday, December 6, 2012 edition of the Business Mirror.Singapore
raring to get back at the Philippines

by rick olivares

Several years ago, when Singapore head
coach Radojko Avramovic was asked what he thought about the Philippine Men’s
Football National Team, his response was, “Make the semifinals first before I
make a comment.”

Two years and two consecutive
semifinals appearances later, all every sports person in the Southeast Asian
region wants to talk about is the Philippines. Avramovic included.

“We did not get the results that we
wanted in our last two friendlies,” said Avramovic, “But I am confident that
we know what to expect from the Philippines now and we can make our
adjustments.”

Singapore midfielder Shahdan
Sulaiman with 22 caps to his name says his side is not deterred by the two
losses to the Philippines. “It does serve as a motivation to us. We could have
won those games and we want to get a result this time round.”

Added defender Baihakki Khaizan, “Looking at the past, we didn’t have a good run of results
in the friendly games against Philippines. But our team, normally after a loss
comes back. We look forward to play them again.”

The Lions lost their last two fixtures
to the Philippines, 2-0, at the Jurong West Stadium in Singapore last
September, and 1-0, in Cebu, last November 15. Singapore advanced to the
semifinals after rallying to beat tough and pesky Laos, 4-3, in their final
group stage match to go through along with defending champion Malaysia. The
Young Tigers, as Malaysia is nicknamed, booted out Indonesia, 2-0.

The Philippines on the other hand,
behind Phil Younghusband and Angel Guirado’s second half goals, slipped past
hitherto undefeated rival Myanmar at the Supachalasai Stadium in Bangkok last
Friday, November 30.

The Azkals will be playing their first
ever Suzuki Cup home match this coming Saturday, December 8 at the Rizal
Memorial Football Stadium at 8pm. But they will possibly be without Guirado,
defender Dennis Cagara, and midfielder Jerry Lucena who have not been cleared
by their respective clubs, Salgoacar (India), Karlsruher (Germany), and Esbjerg
(Denmark) to play.

The Suzuki Cup is not in FIFA’s
official calendar of events and is not obligated by clubs to release their
players. This is the same reason why goalkeepers Neil Etheridge (Fulham) and
Roland Muller (Duisberg) have not been released.

Added Sulaiman, “Their
European-based players are tough and without them, hopefully they (the
Philippines) will struggle against us. It is better for us this way.”

Singapore have won the Asean
Football Championship on three occasions: 1998, 2004, and 2007 and are looking
forward to win it a record fourth time breaking a tie with Thailand. The
Philippines booked its second consecutive semifinals berth in this edition of
the Suzuki Cup.

In closing, Khaizan summed up the
upcoming match with the Philippines as a test of their championship resolve:
“They have the home advantage but for us, we need to maintain that standard and
record which we have. I think not only myself but the team is raring to go and
give our best.”

-------------------

Not soon after I wrote this, Angel Guirado and Dennis Cagara were given permission to suit up for the semifinals.

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What I do for a living?

I also write regularly for Business Mirror; philstar.com; abs-cbnnews.com, and rappler.com.

I am also currently the media officer for the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup, the National Basketball Training Center, and the Flying V Davao Thunders.

I do PR consultancy for a variety of clients that I do not want to divulge.

I used to teach journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University hand have given lectures about journalism, new media, marketing, and public relations at the Ateneo, UP Diliman, UST, San Beda, Immaculate Conception Academy, Miriam College, Mindanao State University, FIFA seminars, and a few other schools and organizations.

I used to write for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Free Press, and Maxim Philippines. I have also contributed to FHM, Men's Health, Tower Sports NBA, Rebound, and a few other sports, interior design, and lifestyle magazines as well. Most recently, I was the editor-in-chief of PBA Life, the Official Lifestyle Magazine of the Philippine Basketball Association as well as Season 40 edition of Hardcourt, the season-in-review.

My blog, Bleachers' Brew, serves as a hub for many of my writings (but not all as there are some that are exclusive).

When I have free time, I listen to my collection of over 5,000 CDs, read, watch DVDs, or walk my dog around the subdivision.